


One Love

by Descended_from_Hufflepuffs



Series: Winkline Bingo 2021 [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crushes, Gen, Other, The Four Loves, Unrequited Love, fic bingo, winkline bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28605897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs/pseuds/Descended_from_Hufflepuffs
Summary: Jack is curious about love and finds an eye-opening book on the subject.
Relationships: Castiel & Jack Kline, Jack Kline & Dean Winchester, Jack Kline & Sam Winchester
Series: Winkline Bingo 2021 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2096124
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	One Love

Love is an interesting concept of humanity. On the surface, it’s so very simple but you don’t have to dig too far down to find out just how complicated it can be.

Jack found a book about love. Well, he found a lot of books about love but most of them were unhelpful and, to be perfectly honest, weren’t worth the 5.99+ ebook versions. But he found another one while exploring one of the libraries in the bunker. He didn’t have much hope originally, sure he would find more of the same platitudes and vague statements but after a few pages, he was proven quite wrong.

_ The Four Loves _ by C.S. Lewis was hardly the kind of reading material one expected to be in a library put together by researchers of the supernatural but Jack wasn’t going to question it. He was finally getting some answers about love and he didn’t want to find out it was secretly cursed or something.

Storge. Phileo. Eros. Agape. The four basic types of love as explained from a Christion Philosophy.

He decided to ignore Agape for the moment; it was a nice concept but he probably needed to understand more about love before he bothered learning about how to give it to things he should probably stay away from. But based on his skimming, he certainly saw it in the hearts of the Winchesters, the way they constantly threw themselves into danger and death for the sake of people that would be more likely to shoot them on sight than thank them. 

Storge was slightly more understandable. Affection is a simple version of love, felt for pets or plants, or old acquaintances. Jack could easily apply this to his relationship with Castiel; they got on well and worked together okay and he didn’t mind spending time with him at all. But it never went much further than small talk or Jack info-dumping about whatever new movie or book the computer told him about. Still, he’d miss Castiel if he ever left or died again so Storge seemed right.

Then there was Phileo, a love born of friendship. Jack felt that he could put that label on his relationship with Dean. They weren’t that close and Dean seemed perfectly content to keep him at an arms-length (understandable given how much trouble he’s caused) but there was something deeper than simple affection there. On the rare occasions Jack joined them on a hunt, Dean looked out for him, even if it wasn’t strictly necessary with his near-divine powers. Dean had also made a game out of how many unhealthy foods he could sneak Jack a taste of behind Sam’s back. So far, he’d made it through five soda brands, three boxes of sugary cereal, and about ten different brands of chocolate bars. Jack would classify Dean as a friend, and a good one at that. Who else would take him to an empty road and let him go way above the speed limit in the “coolest car ever made” (Dean’s words, not his)?

Eros…. Eros was an interesting concept. Lewis defined it as passionate love, though Jack was pretty sure this was what most people now referred to as romantic love. The object of Eros was not happiness, but being with a specific person. Better to be miserable with them than happy without. It was a contradiction and it shouldn't have made any sense at all. And yet...it did. He'd never heard of this before but he recognized the feeling well enough. He felt it every time Sam congratulated him on a hunt or on a research find. He felt it every time Sam's big hand clasped around the back of his neck. He felt it every time Sam made breakfast for the gang and hid some bacon from Dean for Jack's plate. He especially felt it whenever he accidentally ran into Sam when the tall hunter was coming out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel.

Eros…. It was nice to have a word for it at least. Shame he'd never be able to share it with Sam; Sam loved it when he learned new things. But he couldn't explain this to him without revealing his feelings and that would not go well. If Sam loved him, it would have to be Storge or Phileo. Sam had only ever treated him like a friend or a surrogate son, never like someone he felt Eros for. And he never would.

Jack didn't need a book to tell him that.


End file.
